Shroud of Turin May be Photographer's Self-Portrait?

The mysterious Shroud of Turin relic has inspired generations of religious pilgrims and captured the imaginations of countless historians. The centuries-old linen cloth bears the image of a crucified man that Christians believe is a miraculous depiction of Jesus Christ himself, despite the fact that scientists were eventually able to trace its creation back to the Middle Ages. Today, another important—and fascinating—hypothesis regarding its inception has been proposed: Lillian Schwartz, a graphic consultant at the School of Visual Arts in New York, claims it's simply a self-portrait forged by the ultimate Renaissance man himself, Leonardo da Vinci. Not only do the dimensions of his own face and that of the shroud's align, but one of da Vinci's notebooks detailed one of the earliest drawings of the primitive photography technique, camera obscura, which could have easily created the image on the shroud. Researcher Lynn Picknett told The Daily Mail, "If Leonardo could have known that 500 years after he died generations of pilgrims are still crossing themselves over the image, I think he would have laughed quite a lot."